Joseph Cornell

I was recently introduced to the wonderful art of Joseph Cornell and his boxes. I was really intrigued by the way he took objects he found or bought in thrift stores and built a story around them. He used these items in his boxes which were like little worlds in themselves.

Finger Knitting

I learned hot to do this during a workshop on fabric manipulation. Its a really easy process and I really enjoyed it. Its quick and easy to do with great results. I have tried it out using deifferent materials the thicker the material the nicer the result.

Casting take 2

Unfortunately this time didn't go well either. Maybe it's time to abandon the alginate? I stood in the freezing cold for ten minutes only to find I had stepped down too far into the alginate. I tried to make another one as you can see but the alginate had already started to set. Third time lucky?

Photography Photo: Doll Face

My little circuler knitting tool

I made this tool out of lollipop sticks and a coffee cup with the bottom cut out. It seemed like a great idea at first but the lollipop sticks kept falling off even though I super glued them. how frustrating! I think I'm going to make a bigger one out of a bucket and maybe bamboo. Here's some pictures of my little prototype.

Progress Review Time!

Fabric Manipulation and Weaving

I used the sewing machine on zigzag stitch to make the lines look like the lines in a footprint.

I just ironed these pleats into the fabric to create a tyre track.

My own interpretations of foot prints and tracks

To find alot of different shoe prints I put a white sheet by the door of the studio so people could walk over it. I decided to pick out the different patterns and draw them separately on the page.

Dublin Contemporary

Tire Tracks

I wanted to imitate the tracks of tires but not by using actual wheels. Instead I used the end of a glass bottle and various bottle tops. I painted then with acrylic paint and rolled them onto the page. I liked the effect they left which was not the entire print of the object. Some bits were faded whereas some bits were printed strongly.

Casting a Footprint

I tried to cast this footprint using alginate. Alginate is like a rubber which sets really fast (8 minutes after mixing). Its a very delicate material which unfortunately I didn't use properly. I dont think I used enough water or mixed it throughly enough because it came out of the bucket quite lumpy and gooey. Needless to say it didnt pick up the imprint of the footprint which was really disappointing. Hopefully I'll have better luck next time.

Graffiti

I decided to try out my own graffiti in my sketchbook. I tried to use the idea of footprints and tracks in my designs. My favourite is the silhouette of a person walking.

06/10/2011: Artists

Following my tutorial on the 29th of September I looked up three artist which my tutors recommended looking at. The pictures above are from my contextual notebook and are the work of Richard Long. He works with found objects that he comes across while out on planned walks. He began these walks in the 70's and they take him through remote areas of Britain and Ireland. I find these works very interesting as Long works in the environment he is in at that moment in time. It really gives across the idea behind my project which is the idea of where people have been. My favourite of his work is the last image, I find the photo very striking.

The second artist I looked up was Tony Cragg, he also works with found objects. He was influenced by Long which you can see in his early work like the numbers written in the sand. As his work progressed it became more of his own. He takes objects and places them in certain ways so in some they form an image.

The final artist I researched was Mark Dion. His work was based on archaeology. He preformed excavations and archaeological digs and from these he ordered the items he found and exhibited them. The images above are from his work 'Raiding Neptune's Vault' 1997/98 which took place in Italy. He includes the processes involved with archaeology in his works so that people can see the methods he used to produce these works of art.

My nest task is to try and use these artists methods in my own work to come up with something interesting and exciting.

27/09/11

Another successful day in regards to collecting photographs and research materials. Now its time to get down to sketches, drawing and printing. I am also thinking of making some sort of cast out of shoe prints and bicycle wheel tracks which are imprinted into some concrete footpaths. Not sure how to do it but  I'm sure one of my tutors will have some idea. I think it would be interesting to see the finished result. It would also be something different to add to my project other than drawing and photographs.

26/09/2011

Two weeks down and this project is finally getting interesting. I admit to being a bit lost at the beginning but the meeting with my tutor this morning really cleared things up. All I needed was a bit of reassurance that I'm heading in the right direction. My theme for the project on movement and motion is centered on the idea that at this moment in time I'm going down a path to the unknown (ie. this first year in college). Visually I am mainly focusing on vanishing points on roads or pathways and also interesting twists and turns in the road. Along with this I'm investigating the notion that other people have travelled this path too and have someway or another left their mark to say "I was here". I have been busy collecting evidence of this through photographs etc. So far this seems like an interesting idea with lots of different possible outcomes. During this week I am going to try and focus on drawing and sketching different pathways to really jump start this project. Here are a couple of my photographs. Enjoy :)